#i love inscryption so much its such a good game if you haven't played it you should.

[headless6969]

i have been hyperfixated on inscryption for months help me.

[cosmos-dot-semicolon]

what exactly about inscryption do you like, I don't remember asking

Inscryption has many, many good individual ideas in it. It has many ideas in it in general; every time I think about it I come up with another essay on the spot. They were perhaps accidental, but they're still there, and the dev's willingness to commit to the (usually kind of gauche) concept of sentient video game characters creates a story that you couldn't find anywhere else.

Act 1 (along with the demo) has an atmosphere that's unmatched by any other card game I've seen. It's this beautiful yet ominous chiaroscuro world with nothing but you, your playing pieces, and your captor sitting in a log den. And with how small it is, your imagination gets to run wild with the tales of the woods you're told, the sound design, and the lighting, as you die over and over again trying to find a way out. It's so good at building up mystery and suspense as you the mechanics start to shift and the cards in your deck change, and you prepare for the world to change.

The demo, Sacrifices Must Be Made, has an entirely different story and nails it. It has the same atmosphere as act 1, but because it's shorter and was made as a complete entry for Ludum Dare, its got a much steeper difficulty curve which really weaves into your desperation to survive and not starve. The self-mutilation mechanics that it has are so much more impactful than the main game because the matches are so rigged that you have to use them. There's so many small yet hard-hitting implications in each piece of dialogue. And the ending is a cruel but fitting one.

The Scrybes are compelling characters. They don't have much dialogue, but you can deduce a lot about them by their gameplay styles, and the way they treat their subordinates and/or the players. None of them are truly good or evil; even Leshy and Grimora are driven by selfishness and the belief that everything needs to burn respectively. It's a level of moral greyness that I never would've expected out of the guy who made Pony Island of all things.

The Scrybes also double as really interesting commentary on game design. P03 is basically a personification of the guy who won't stop min-maxing to everybody's detriment, Leshy values lore above balance, Magnificus loves spectacle but his deck is godawful to set up unless you have a super-mega plan in action. And even when one Scrybe takes over, they always have a secondary mechanic from one of the others in their campaign. I think it's accidental, but it's an amazing example of ludo-narrative assonance.

The post-game DLC has a small but heartfelt story about a game developer's work accidentally coming to life, and her finding a lot of solace in pouring her time into this new world in her computer even as her company threatens to burn all the work. It's far less intrusive than the lore-dumps in the main game, and the character Kaycee Hobbes is written as a much more realistic audience stand-in than the previous guy.

One of the last entries (which I haven't gotten to yet but have seen amazing art for) is just a wish from Kaycee that somebody out in the world will find her work and enjoy it. It's a poignant story about a creative field which isn't usually discussed in popular media, with uncomfortably real parallels to how the game industry works today. It doesn't entirely condemn getting obsessed with your work either, since it's clear that the disc is a sort of evil artefact and Kaycee continues to isolate herself as she works harder on it.

It's done in like. 12 paragraphs.

After playing one of the creator's most recent works, Voir Dire, it's clear that the guy works really well when he's focusing on a single concept and not trying to recreate that one creepypasta game of his that got big. The problem is that he seems to prefer to trying to tie everything together into an ARG/mystery multiverse thing above all else.

But that doesn't mean Inscryption doesn't have other parts of it to enjoy. Sometimes you just stumble into brilliance by total accident ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[datastate]

quettasecond:

im going to resume readjng the house husband manga after many years now that i finally have the sevond volume

yoggybloggy:

extremely predictably from the throes of my dungeon meshi reblogging… you should read dungeon meshi… everyone is not lying when they say its extremely good its honestly kind of crazy how well-rounded its excellence is just on all fronts. characters/story/themes/worldbuilding/art/humour etc etc its honestly one of the most well executed media ive seen ever < recency bias but STILL!!!

alethiometer:

inscryption; transistor; bastion; pyre; outer wilds; bugsnax; celeste; anodyne; the entire wtc series although huge cws for it; sea of solitude for a short one with easy gameplay that i think would Get you for manga: houseki no kuni; seconding the dunmeshi rec; witch hat atelier; uhhh probably more that i can't remember rn

azurehaiku:

i'm playing thru cryptid crush right now! really cute, free visual novel where you hang out with a bunch of cryptids while trying to figure out what the deal is with your curse. every design is top notch!!!

hoshizoraorchestra:

witch hat atelier !! i think you would like it very much.

jastertown:

I'm just going to recommend the game that has infected near all a friend group I'm in: In Stars and Time! It's an rpg about looping in time, trying to save the world while you're the only one who knows these loops are even happening. Don't tell your friends! <3 (it's a longer game honestly, and it's worth looking up the trigger warnings just to be safe, but I'm really having fun with it. The party characters are really charming and I love them all)

thank you all so much!!! i've heard of a few of these before, but there are many more that i haven't yet heard of :0 i look forward to seeing them!

does anyone have game/manga recs? i'm trying to compile my bookmarked list before i sleep & so :0

[sketchy-entertainer]

I return with more art. This time for the game, Inscryption! So, be warned, HEAVY SPOILERS ABOUND. PLEASE PLAY THE GAME IF YOU HAVEN'T. I'd hate to spoil it.

Anti spoil circles starts here,

○

○

○

○

○

○

More circles

Circles are definitely here

Seriously, just play the game

anti spoiler circles end here

We good?

Aight

Anyway, I gave drawing this game a go, so, here we go!

We got PO-3! (P0-3?) I honestly love its smugness and its design. It's one of my favorite scrybes, which isn't saying too much considering I love all four of those scrybes. Seriously, they're a chaotic bunch, and all of them are interesting! P0-3 is just really easy for me to draw, lmao.

It definitely would be the one to know all the cheat codes in a really obscure video game.

Also, stoat.

I also drew these two great buds. I like to imagine that Angler would take Lonely out to fish, and they just relax near the water. I wanna see more of these two, honestly

And finally, an attempt at Leshy. Its really hard to draw him with how scarce the images of him can be. There ain't a full body in sight. Hell, couldn't even find the sprites to thenolayer characters in Act 2

Thanks for coming to my ted talk, lads.

Doodles!

[egg-node]

3, 4, 5, 7 & 8 for the Inscryption ask game?

wah! thank you! :^D

3. Favorite Act? Why? (Mechanics, aesthetic, story, specific moments, etc.)

who am i to deny act 1. played that one most out of all of them, not to mention that i played kaycee's mod like a madman (finally got an all challenges run to succeed OTL). it's just *fun* gameplay. my first go around i made absolutely *boosted* deathcards, and being able to watch them decimate was fun in of itself. and now i'm playing it with only one deathcard, and planning your deck ahead of time and figuring out how to win without a near-guaranteed turn 1 lethal is fantastic as well. and looking back on it in act 2 shows what leshy incorporated from the original game, and what he didn't. some of the dialogue especially from leshy, and also the other scrybes, in this act... im *specifically* thinking about the win dialogue you get from leshy on win 3 and win 4.

4. Favorite Scrybe?

i wonder...... nah it's leshy lmao. especially love how he narrates everything, like in act 2 after his defeat. oh, to get/become a dm as devoted to the craft as him

5. Favorite non-scrybe npc?

(is it cheating to say the archivist) (they're an uberbot. that's not a scrybe.) (i may be cheating just a little when that's p03's interpretation of grimora) (but they're neat. their lines... nice. i think p03 did a good job capturing grimora's voice and cadence and lexicon. and that battle was fun) (also the photographer. much more a bastardization of leshy imo, but that is also fun. to see how p03 sees leshy)

BUT if i had to do non-scrybe-but-reskinned. mayhaps goobert? a funny little guy... someone please help them

7. Favorite theory/theories?

i don't know if this one is a theory - it might be confirmed in game and i just. glanced over it. but if it isn't - i firmly believe that magnificus knew how it all would turn out. this includes leshy losing control, p03 gaining it, and grimora's deletion of the game. and it may be a first instinct to go "why didn't he try to stop it then?" but his premonition may be unchangeable - perhaps in the past he's tried to change the outcome he saw, to no avail. and in the visions we're given in act 1 where magnificus paints the next thing we need to do (eg. unlocking the safe, the knife, the cuckoo clock with the film reel), we're in a white void with a little bit of wood(?) ground. just like what we see in act 3's finale.

does this explain how he treats his subordinates? idk lol.

8. Favorite headcanon(s)?

this is not really a *headcanon* but my head is empty, and this fic is very very good. so this interpretation: "THAT IS ULTIMATELY THE CALLING OF A SCRYBE. NOT TO CREATE, NO- TO HOPELESSLY, LOVINGLY POSTPONE THE INEVITABLE." (from @scrybe-of-beasts fic AN ENDING. absolutely fantastic btw it owns my heart defo read it if you haven't already.) leshy captures beasts, who would otherwise die eventually, and lets them live and die repeatedly as cards. grimora raises the dead. magnificus paints his students, immortalizing them. and p03 scans its bots. and the end of the game is seeing them realize (or, on grimora's part, having already accepted) that they cannot postpone the inevitable (specifically magnificus's "Nothing beautiful can last.")

these answers may be a bit long. oop! but thank u again for sending me these!! :^D had a lot of fun answering (Ask Meme)

[chilly-moss]

Not a mutual at all but this seemed really fun so I did it anyways :) Preface: I am probably wrong about this list in some ways because I forget a lot of games I used to play! Even the really good ones!!! So most of these are games I played in the last 2-3 years or so, except for the final row, you'll see why :) Row 1 and 2: the ones that stuck. These are the games that don't really fit into one cohesive category other that wowsers!!! I really really liked these ones, for one reason or another.

Disco Elysium: My explanation cannot do this game justice. Watch a spoiler-free review or video essay about or just play it yourself! The only game in this list where I remember I cried.

Pentiment: There is so much love put into this game!!!!! The style, the letters, the story! There's so much research done into its history and so much time spent meticulously crafting every fine detail! The game itself is in no way perfect, but it dangles the pretty keys well enough in my face that I loved every second of it anyways!

Dishonored: Got this on sale when I remembered all the praise for it and wow it's deserved! I love how I can still be stealthy without needing to be hitman-levels of patient (no offense to hitman, just really impatient). The story is pretty fine and I imagine the second one is just as good, though I didn't finish it yet.

Cultist Simulator: Impeccable worldbuilding! Or...lack thereof I guess? IDK, Alexis Kennedy is notorious for being "anti-worldbuilding" though there's still a lot of it here hmmmm. Still, the Hours and the lore are something on a scale I haven't seen before (though that might just be me).

Ghostrunner: Amazing soundtrack, killer boss fights, makes me feel like a badass, not really anything more to say. It's the first movement shooter (slasher?) I played.

Card Shark: I kid you not this game sent me into a card magic phase. They actually use irl tricks and teach them to you (although mostly on a gameplay level only). The story is awesome and the art is too!

A House of Many Doors: I love the story and the inclusivity of all the characters. It's all very vibrant but doesn't fail to set the bleak undertone of the story.

Inscryption: I can't talk too much about this without spoiling a lot, but if you know you know. Great soundtrack too :)

Cassette Beasts: ohohohohohohohohohoho. The SOUNDTRACK, the ART, the STORY, the CHARACTER, MWAHMWAHMWAH ALL MY KISSES TO THIS GAME.

Danganronpa (the whole series): Honestly was a little hesitant to add this considering the rep the community has, so I don't dwell on it too long. I like the games, especially because me and my friends were live dubbing the second and third game.

Ok this is a lot longer than I expected oops, SPEED ROUNDS

Row 3: The chillaxers. Just some games I like if I had a rough day and want to wind down.

Row 4: The thinkers. Puzzle games! I'm not the best at them but I like them nonetheless.

Row 5: The originals. The first games I played! LBP 2 is the absolute first one ever and watch dogs was my first "18+ rated" game. The other three are all games I played very early on.

HONORABLE MENTIONS (aka I messed up and completely forgot about these but remembered while writing and am too lazy to edit the list): Sunless Sea, Splatoon (HOW COULD I FORGET YOU), Mario and Sonic winter Olympics (Nintendo DS), Nintendogs, Spyro (on my nephew's PlayStation) and Kirby's epic Yarn

Favourite games chart!

I saw everyone doing this fun little thing on bsky and I wanted to join!! (Here's where you can make one if you want: https://topsters.org/ )

It was actually so hard to pick so many "favourite" games without feeling like I was watering down the concept of favourite. I overcame this feeling by sorting these into different little categories.

First row is my current top 5 (in no particular order).

Second row is the artsy kids, the ones that really have beautiful music and/or artistic direction, that I could recommend to basically anyone and they'd at least agree that they're really pretty games even if they didn't like them.

Third row is the nostalgia corner, the ones I played when I was a kid and that really stuck with me.

Fourth row is the fun ones, I don't necessarily have a strong emotional connection to them but I had so much fun playing them I want more.

The last row is the joker row, where I put games that either are unfinished (Ultrakill, Deltarune), I haven't finished yet (Ultrakill, Library of Ruina), or… are just as bad as they're good (Genshin Impact). Seriously don't get me started on Genshin Impact. I love it I truly do but man.

Special mention for Othercide for the 1st boss experience that absolutely blew my mind. I would have put it on the list for this alone, but it gave me anxiety and that made me never finish the game. I'll get back to it one day. Listen to the soundtrack, folks, it's got some bangers.

(I tried not to put 2 games from the same series/franchise, like for ex I only TOTK even though I also played BOTW and I like it about as much, I put 1 Ace Attorney -well it's a duology but whatever- eve though there's many others that i also really love. I did put 2 zeldas but they're different enough imo that's it's fine. I also put 3/4 Supergiant Games ones but is it truly my fault if all their games are so good. And yeah there's 2 FF games too. What do you want me to do. There's so many FFs out there and they're probably all good I've only played these 2 from the main series and they're both in my favs I can't do anything about that.)(Anyways I think that's all.)